The State Museum of Pennsylvania Announces Finalists for 54th Annual “Art of the State” Exhibition

Harrisburg, PA – Finalists have been announced for Art of the State 2021.

Art of the State is an annual juried exhibition that has been showcasing the work of Pennsylvania’s artists at The State Museum of Pennsylvania since 1968. The body of art that has been exhibited reflects over a half-century of creative endeavor in the Keystone State. Through the years, artists have shared their ideas and engaged viewers in the categories of painting, photography, craft, sculpture, and work on paper.

The exhibition will open to the public on Sunday, September 26 and run through January 2, 2022. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, award winners of the 54th annual exhibit will be announced via social media at 12:00 PM on the exhibit’s opening day.

Award winners will be posted on Facebook and Twitter. An exhibit catalogue pdf, and programming announcements can be accessed on the Art of the State 2021 landing page.

The exhibit includes 104 works of art from 104 artists from 31 counties. Finalists were selected from 2,217 entries from 626 artists.

Artists in show:
Rebecca Aidlin, Jasmine Alleger, Donna Backues, Philippa Beardsley, Matthew Bender, Sandra Benhaim, Priscilla Bohlen, Matthew Borgen, Susan Breitsch, Sarah Butler, Jorge Caligiuri, Nancy Cohen, Andrew Christman, Andrew Conti, Chris Curchin, Sally K. Eisenberg, Linnie Greenberg, Louis Gribaudo, Alex Griffin, Debra Jenks, Andrea Wohl Keefe, Sam Koren, Penelope Tsaltas Lisk, Stephanie Manzi, Norma Markley, Kellianne McCarthy, Dawn Merritt, John Mitchell, Samantha Mitchell, Heidi Nam, Chau Nguyen, Haigen G. Pearson, Eung Ho Park, John Howell White, Natasha Zeta, Robert Zurer

OPENING: June 11, 2021

On Balance opens at the Scott Mills Gallery in the East Falls area of Philadelphia, on May 21 and runs until August 13, 2021. The opening reception takes place June 11, 2021 in person and in accordance with Philadelphia’s Covid health safety restrictions. The seven artist, all living in the Philadelphia area, are: Philip Hart, mobile sculpture; Leigh Kane, video art and photo montage; Iwan (John) Nazarewycz, painting and drawing; James Rose, ink drawing; Heather Ramsdale, mixed media sculpture; Rick Salafia, wood sculpture; John Howell White, painting.

Curated by John Howell White

The works in this exhibition represent the ruminations of four artists during the challenging COVID-19 response. Working largely in isolation, each of the artists developed their own systems of representation characterized by a repeated framework within which possibility could be realized. Each of the nine collections in the exhibit represent a separate line of exploration during the months between March and December of 2020.

CLOSING EVENT: MAY 7th 6:00 - 8:00 PM

Curated by Lyn Godley and Donna Quinn

The Shape of Tomorrow highlights the work of five artists, all of whom’s work utilizes color and form to offer the viewer a chance to escape into abstract other-worlds. Throughout the galleries, the work of Charles Emlen, Greg Kelly, Tremain Smith, Larry Spaid, and John Howell White take unabashed joy in their included forms and color pallets to provoke the visual senses of the viewers.

Curated by In-Liquid

Paintings inhabit the world in ways, through time, reference, and ambience, that are distinct from the workings of film and photography. Even realistic paintings hover about unattached to their referents. Paintings then, like ghosts, confront viewers through their impact and haunt them through excluded information, they conjure an absence, which ferments attachments and invites future visitations. This group of oils, acrylics, egg temperas, and watercolors, are the result of this affective quality of paintings. JHW

“I am interested in paintings as contemplative spaces. For many years, like many people with complicated lives, my painting moments have been wedged between work, family and civic life. The scale and the content of these paintings provide effective opportunities for this practice.”

Review of Exhibition

These three artists have been making their art on parallel paths for over 40 years. Over time their conversations, relating what they see, how they see and what they would like to see, have informed their artwork and enriched their relationships. Their commitment to making their “visions” tangible has provided them their livelihood as teachers and as artists.